Lake watch. Law enforcement.

Sheriff's Service A Guardian Angel To Elderly, Disabled At Home Alone

April 01, 1994|By Andrew Martin, Tribune Staff Writer.

It didn't take Grace Wiertz long to decide to sign up for the Lake County sheriff's new Are You OK? program. All she had to do was recall back injuries she suffered last year when she tripped over a coffee table.

Lying on the ground with five broken vertebra, Wiertz said she had to wait for more than an hour until her husband got home from work.

The Are You OK? program was launched March 1 and is intended to provide senior and disabled citizens with a measure of security when they are home alone.

Using donated computer equipment, the sheriff's office places phone calls to participants in the program at a pre-determined time each day.

The computer says, "This is the Lake County sheriff's Are You OK? telephone reassurance system. If you are OK, please hang up the phone now and have a good day. If there is a problem, stay on the line and sheriff's personnel will be with you immediately."

If the person stays on the line, a sheriff's employee is alerted by an alarm, and vital information, such as the person's name, address, medical history and next of kin, is automatically flashed on the computer screen.

If there is no answer, the computer calls the person back every three minutes. After the fifth phone attempt, sheriff's deputies are alerted, and a squad car is sent to check on the person or next of kin are contacted.

Sheriff's Lt. Steve Townsend said 125 people have signed up for the program so far. Squad cars have been sent to check on several participants when they didn't answer the phone, but none has resulted in medical emergencies, he said.

"I think it's working out great," said Ruth Adams, president of the Lake County Council for Seniors. "They really like it. It gives them a little feeling of security."

Wiertz, a 72-year-old with osteoporosis, said she is called every morning at 10 a.m.

"So far, knock on wood, I haven't had to use it," said Wiertz, of Waukegan. "But thank God, it's there if I need it."

For more information, call 708-360-5830.

Back to grim reality Ed Sindles didn't only lose his bid for the Republican nomination for Lake County sheriff. He also lost his job.

Sindles said he will not return to the sheriff's office, where he had served as a jail administrator before going on leave last fall to run against incumbent Clinton Grinnell.